Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party |
- The President’s Tax Proposal Would Cripple Charities
- U.S. Profits Top Estimates for 11th Qtr.
- Wall Street Firms Spy on Protesters In Tax-Funded Center
- DHS-Funded Taser Drone Launched in Texas
- Firms to charge smokers, obese more for healthcare
- Hatch says position change has nothing to do with tea party
- Of Course: “When Should You Shoot a Cop Flyers” Blamed on Tea Party
| The President’s Tax Proposal Would Cripple Charities Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:43 AM PDT By Kathryn Hickok , Oregoncatalyst.com President Obama proposed once again that Congress reduce the federal itemized tax deduction for charitable contributions. He argues that people don't give to charity to get a tax deduction and increased revenue could pay for other things (in the latest instance, his Jobs Act). "I'm assuming that that shouldn't be a determining factor as to whether you're giving that $100 to the homeless shelter down the street," the president said in 2009. A tax deduction is not the motivating factor for most people who give. But lower taxes are an empowering factor. How much you give has a lot to do with how much you can give. Charitable giving is discretionary. If you pay more in taxes, it stands to reason that that money will be made up somewhere else in your budget. Brian Gallagher, president of United Way Worldwide, notes that Obama's proposal would reduce charitable giving by $2.9 to $5.6 billion per year, according to one study. "That equates to eliminating all of the private donations each year to the Red Cross, Goodwill, the YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Clubs, Catholic Charities, and the American Cancer Society combined," Gallagher said. State budgets for social services and safety nets are stretched, charities are struggling, and needs are increasing. The Senate was wise to reject using the charitable tax deduction as a chance to raise taxes on Americans who are voluntarily and generously stepping up to meet those needs during a recession. To read more, visit: http://oregoncatalyst.com/12395-presidents-tax-proposal-cripple-charities.html |
| U.S. Profits Top Estimates for 11th Qtr. Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:35 AM PDT By Whitney Kisling, Bloomberg.com American companies are beating Wall Street profit estimates for the 11th straight quarter, enough to revive a bull market that analysts say will eclipse any rally in the past 12 years. A total of 222 out of 298 Standard & Poor's 500 Index companies that reported results since Oct. 11 have exceeded forecasts for the third quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Price targets for companies in the index from more than 10,000 estimates suggest the S&P 500 will advance 13 percent to 1,447.93, a year from Oct. 28's close. Companies from Google Inc. to Peabody Energy Corp. are delivering higher earnings at a time when Bill Gross, the co- chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., is warning that Europe's debt crisis will spur a recession. While more than $6.3 trillion has been erased from global equities since May, analyst forecasts imply the benchmark measure will post its biggest rally since the 1990s technology bubble, when the gain since March 2009 is included. "This is looking like it's going to be a really decent quarter," Warren Koontz, head of U.S. large-cap value stocks at Loomis Sayles & Co. in Boston, which manages about $150 billion, said in an Oct. 25 interview. "Valuations are very, very low relative to history, and you don't have to make heroic assumptions on multiples to get reasonable returns." The S&P 500 traded at 11.7 times reported income on Oct. 3, within 14 percent of its price-earnings ratio at the bottom of the financial crisis in March 2009, Bloomberg data show. The index fell 1.4 percent to 1,267.03 at 9:45 a.m. New York time, trimming its monthly gain to 12 percent, the most since 1987. To read more, visit: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-30/profits-top-estimates-for-11th-quarter-as-analysts-see-tech-bubble-rally.html |
| Wall Street Firms Spy on Protesters In Tax-Funded Center Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:29 AM PDT By PAM MARTENS, CounterPunch.org Wall Street's audacity to corrupt knows no bounds and the cooptation of government by the 1 per cent knows no limits. How else to explain $150 million of taxpayer money going to equip a government facility in lower Manhattan where Wall Street firms, serially charged with corruption, get to sit alongside the New York Police Department and spy on law abiding citizens. According to newly unearthed documents, the planning for this high tech facility on lower Broadway dates back six years. In correspondence from 2005 that rests quietly in the Securities and Exchange Commission's archives, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly promised Edward Forst, a Goldman Sachs' Executive Vice President at the time, that the NYPD "is committed to the development and implementation of a comprehensive security plan for Lower Manhattan…One component of the plan will be a centralized coordination center that will provide space for full-time, on site representation from Goldman Sachs and other stakeholders." At the time, Goldman Sachs was in the process of extracting concessions from New York City just short of the Mayor's first born in exchange for constructing its new headquarters building at 200 West Street, adjacent to the World Financial Center and in the general area of where the new World Trade Center complex would be built. According to the 2005 documents, Goldman's deal included $1.65 billion in Liberty Bonds, up to $160 million in sales tax abatements for construction materials and tenant furnishings, and the deal-breaker requirement that a security plan that gave it a seat at the NYPD's Coordination Center would be in place by no later than December 31, 2009. The surveillance plan became known as the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative and the facility was eventually dubbed the Lower Manhattan Security Coordination Center. It operates round-the-clock. Under the imprimatur of the largest police department in the United States, 2,000 private spy cameras owned by Wall Street firms, together with approximately 1,000 more owned by the NYPD, are relaying live video feeds of people on the streets in lower Manhattan to the center. Once at the center, they can be integrated for analysis. At least 700 cameras scour the midtown area and also relay their live feeds into the downtown center where low-wage NYPD, MTA and Port Authority crime stoppers sit alongside high-wage personnel from Wall Street firms that are currently under at least 51 Federal and state corruption probes for mortgage securitization fraud and other matters. In addition to video analytics which can, for example, track a person based on the color of their hat or jacket, insiders say the NYPD either has or is working on face recognition software which could track individuals based on facial features. The center is also equipped with live feeds from license plate readers. According to one person who has toured the center, there are three rows of computer workstations, with approximately two-thirds operated by non-NYPD personnel. The Chief-Leader, the weekly civil service newspaper, identified some of the outside entities that share the space: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange. Others say most of the major Wall Street firms have an on-site representative. Two calls and an email to Paul Browne, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, seeking the names of the other Wall Street firms at the center were not returned. An email seeking the same information to City Council Member, Peter Vallone, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, was not returned. To read more, visit: http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/18/wall-street-firms-spy-on-protestors-in-tax-funded-center/ |
| DHS-Funded Taser Drone Launched in Texas Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:25 AM PDT By: Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars.com A Department of Homeland Security-funded surveillance drone deployed against insurgents in Afghanistan that can also be used to tase suspects from above has been unveiled by the Montgomery County Sheriff's office and will be operational within a month. "At $500,000 a pop, Montgomery county spent $250,000 to get the UAV. The rest was covered by a Department of Homeland Security grant," reports KBTX.com. Although its initial role will be limited to surveillance, the ShadowHawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, previously used against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and East Africa, has the ability to tase suspects from above as well as carrying 12-gauge shotguns and grenade launchers. "We look forward to utilizing it in a variety of capacities that protect our employees from harm to the extent possible and to enhance the protection to our citizens and their safety," said Montgomery County Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel. The ShadowHawk is a 50lb mini drone chopper that can be fitted with an XREP taser with the ability to fire four barbed electrodes that can be shot to a distance of 100 feet, delivering "neuromuscular incapacitation" to the victim. The drone can travel at a top speed of 70MPH and can operate for 3.5 hours over land and sea. A video clip of the drone shows off its impressive maneuverability as it tails a suspect attempting to evade capture with sophisticated object tracking technology. Another video shows the drone conducting surveillance of two individuals involved in a firearm transaction. To read more, visit: http://www.infowars.com/dhs-funded-taser-drone-launched-in-texas/ |
| Firms to charge smokers, obese more for healthcare Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:20 AM PDT By Jilian Mincer, Reuters.com (Reuters) – Like a lot of companies, Veridian Credit Union wants its employees to be healthier. In January, the Waterloo, Iowa-company rolled out a wellness program and voluntary screenings. It also gave workers a mandate – quit smoking, curb obesity, or you’ll be paying higher healthcare costs in 2013. It doesn’t yet know by how much, but one thing’s for certain – the unhealthy will pay more. The credit union, which has more than 500 employees, is not alone. In recent years, a growing number of companies have been encouraging workers to voluntarily improve their health to control escalating insurance costs. And while workers mostly like to see an employer offer smoking cessation classes and weight loss programs, too few are signing up or showing signs of improvement. So now more employers are trying a different strategy – they’re replacing the carrot with a stick and raising costs for workers who can’t seem to lower their cholesterol or tackle obesity. They’re also coming down hard on smokers. For example, discount store giant Wal-Mart says that starting in 2012 it will charge tobacco users higher premiums but also offer free smoking cessation programs. Tobacco users consume about 25 percent more healthcare services than non-tobacco users, says Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, which insures more than 1 million people, including family members. “The decisions aren’t easy, but we need to balance costs and provide quality coverage.” To read more, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/30/us-penalties-idUSTRE79T2S220111030?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true |
| Hatch says position change has nothing to do with tea party Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:17 AM PDT BY MATT CANHAM, The Salt Lake Tribune Sen. Orrin Hatch voted in favor of No Child Left Behind and has supported the education law in the face of angry state lawmakers and teachers groups for almost a decade. But no more. Late last week, Hatch not only voted against a revamp of the much-maligned law, he also was one of three Senate education committee members who voted to scrap it altogether. "The current law just hasn't worked like we hoped it would," he told The Tribune in an interview. "I gave No Child Left Behind the benefit of the doubt, but frankly, while my vote was motivated by the best of intentions, it ended up being too much of a straitjacket." Tea party activists have criticized Hatch for voting in favor of President George W. Bush's signature education law, saying it expanded the federal bureaucracy and weakened state control of the education system. But Hatch said his newfound opposition to the law isn't a reaction to political opponents, who are trying to defeat his 2012 re-election bid, though they have had a hard time persuading conservatives to jump in the race. To read more, visit: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52782216-90/hatch-education-law-behind.html.csp |
| Of Course: “When Should You Shoot a Cop Flyers” Blamed on Tea Party Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:13 AM PDT By: Katie Pavlich, Townhall.com You knew it was coming, and here it is. Last week I brought you a story about flyers instructing and encouraging cop killing being found by a Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy at Occupy Phoenix. The flyers were serious enough that the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center issued a safety memo to Arizona law enforcement, warning them of potential danger. Now of course, the Occupy movement is blaming the Tea Party for their placement and violent content. We know that TEA Party protesters sometimes bring guns to their rallies, for example people like known neo-Nazi JT Ready who attends immigration rallies with loaded guns and with huge knives, and we know that white supremacists (who can hardly be called "liberals" but who usually proclaim the glories of the TEA Party) have planned to use roadside bombs in Arizona. It is the Minutemen that are armed and that have been charged with murder, for example when a group of them killed 9 year-old Brisenia Flores. It is the conservative preachers and GOP congressional candidates that say "violent overthrow of the US government is 'on the table.'" Homeland Security is also noting a rise in right-wing Christian militia groups after Obama became president. It is the Republicans and TEA Party that love their guns and cannot leave home without them, and yet it is the liberal peace-loving hippies camping out that are ready to shoot cops? Who are the ones more likely to be carrying guns and ready to shoot, the NRA members or the lazy liberal hippies who "need to take a shower?" To read more, visit: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/10/31/of_course_when_should_you_shoot_a_cop_flyers_blamed_on_tea_party |
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